Trying to rent a small house/condo in Central Jersey and have had the run around from the Realtors. When it came to splitting their fee of one month, listing agent presented awful lease, we refused to sign [typos, vague use of security deposit, limit on guests] but I think it was a way to get in a renter where he would get 100% of commission. My agent was totally flustered, was no help, and pretty much wanted me to sign, sign, sign so they could get their 50% and run. Just felt the landlord would be problems in future with outside maintenance we would of had to preform etc. Maybe do the complex type after all …. sure not buying.

If you really liked the place, I would have circled the typos, crossed out the provisions you didn’t like and at least given them the opportunity to come back with a better offer. Doesn’t work often, but you at least might have gotten their obnoxious realtor fired.

My wife is an attorney…my first experience with this was her marking up the contract associated with getting a lift ticket at a ski resort.

She told me that most of the things they were trying to get you to waive (personal injury related to gross negligence of the resort) could not be waived under state law anyway. It rubbed her the wrong way anyway.

The person selling the lift ticket looked at her sideways, but ultimately shrugged their shoulders.

The message is one of my wife’s favorite sayings when negotiating a deal…”they can’t say ‘no’ if you don’t ask.”

When I moved into my current place, I met the LL in person to seal the deal. He had the contract and keys in hand, and I had my check-book and a recent bank-statement to show means/solvency (though he had already verified my employment).

As I read the lease, I saw a few phrases that I didn’t like, and I raised my concerns with him on the spot. We compromised on a few points, crossed out a few minor bits, added a clarifying sentence to another, and then signed the modified version.

I love Sarasota! Such a calm beach town! Good for them on RKBA! Obama is going to be defeated on these executive orders, either the courts will call them unconstitutional, county sheriffs will not enforce the laws, or the average responsible gun owner will not comply and will be patriotically defying Obama.

I will resist and defy. There will be so many millions who will disobey that it will be at most a symbolic “law.” I don’t care if I lose my job either. A great deal of DOD workers are staunch supporters of RKBA. I went target shooting with colleagues in the DOD several times. One has an AK-47 and lives in California.

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

That is a pretty boring list. The whole episode shows something about the way that a certain sector of the population thinks about the president. Biden mentioned that executive orders could be used to the issue of gun violence and immediately many Americans assumed that meant executive orders would be issues to confiscate automatic weapons. I was channel surfing one evening and I think that I saw Ann Coulter telling Sean Hannity to calm down and not worry about that. Imagine that. Ann Coulter as the voice of reason.

‘So have they actually, you know, taken or tried to take your guns away or stop you from buying more’

I’ve said repeatedly here that Obama wasn’t going to take anyone’s gun. He knows that would just get a lot of government workers shot.

’sad to see grown adults scared by the boogeyman’

I’m not scared. But you are all for killing innocent brown children to “protect us from terrorism”. Talk about a boogeyman.

Comment by scdave

2013-01-21 11:18:50

But you are all for killing innocent brown children to “protect us from terrorism” ??

I am not….I have said any number of times we should close every military base not on US soil….If the Saudi’s want military protection, we can sell them hardware if thats what we choose to do and they can hire blackwater….

But you’re willing to let him sign your paycheck. I think you would have worked for Hitler or Stalin had the pay been high enough.

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Comment by nickpapageorgio

2013-01-20 13:33:37

You are confusing government work with forces in governments bent on bans. Government has certain services to provide, with that comes the need to employ contractors and employees. Government does not have to threaten peoples constitutional rights on a daily basis. Wake up.

Which ones do you find so offensive? Some of them seem pretty routine, like appointing a head of the ATF.

Here’s the list, via the White House. (I did not engage in complication reporter-fu to get this. It’s the general fact sheet.)

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.

15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies

16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

“This is our legislative branch. And of course they earn a skim on every dollar is some indirect way.”

Or in some direct way. Set up - and FUND - a committee to study a problem in order to reach a solution to the problem and you have just created another problem.

The problem you have created is the funded committee.

If the funded committee actually SOLVES the problem then the reason for the existence of the committee vanishes as does the funding, thus those who depend on the existence of the funded committee will be thrown out of a job if the problem ever gets solved. So the energies of the committee members become directed not to solving the problem but rather in keeping the problem from ever being solved.

As Charlie Munger says, “Never underestimate the power of incentives.”

DETROIT (AP) - Federal prosecutors have filed a fraud charge against Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway, just a few days before she leaves the state’s highest court in a scandal involving the sale of a Detroit-area home and suspicious steps taken to conceal property in Florida.

The charge was filed Friday as a criminal “information,” which means it was negotiated and that a guilty plea is expected in federal court. Defense attorney Steve Fishman declined to comment Saturday.

Hathaway is resigning Monday, months after a series of questionable real estate transactions first were revealed by a Detroit TV station. Hathaway and her husband, Michael Kingsley, deeded a Florida home to Kingsley’s daughter while trying to negotiate a short sale on a house they couldn’t afford in Grosse Pointe Park.

In a short sale, a bank agrees to a sale that wipes out any remaining mortgage, a significant benefit for any borrower. The 2011 deal went through and erased the couple’s $600,000 debt in Michigan. Five months later, in 2012, the debt-free Windermere, Fla., home worth more than $600,000 went back in their names for $10.

The bank fraud charge says Hathaway made false statements to ING Direct, transferred property to others and failed to disclose available cash - all in an effort to fool the bank into believing she had a severe financial hardship. Kingsley, also a lawyer, has not been charged.

Hathaway has refused to make any lengthy public comments. She told WXYZ-TV last spring that the property shuffles were a private matter

“In a short sale, a bank agrees to a sale that wipes out any remaining mortgage, a significant benefit for any borrower. The 2011 deal went through and erased the couple’s $600,000 debt in Michigan. Five months later, in 2012, the debt-free Windermere, Fla., home worth more than $600,000 went back in their names for $10.”

Even the “smarty-pants” are eligible for the FB award, and then adding bank fraud really is the cherry on top.

My wife’s dad is a retired judge (not state supreme court), but he was paid remarkably little when you compare it to what an experienced litigator may be paid. He made very good money after he retired from the bench, doing arbitrations.

Seems there’s big money to be made if you can be a facilitator of a resolution that is an alternative to traditional litigation.

Says something for the inefficiency of the “normal” court process, and the cost of attorneys…

Steve Sailor has an interesting set of articles on “gentrification”. Say what you want about him, but he does lift the sheet off the way liberal white people practice racism.
———————
The Oak Park “Black-a-Block” system in detail

No, it’s like this because the government of Oak Park back in the 1960s passed laws to let in some respectable blacks, but definitely not too many. People in Oak Park like to celebrate this as a triumph of liberal integrationism, which I guess is one way of putting it. But mostly they don’t like to talk about it. Personally, I think it’s a fascinating solution that has mostly been stuffed down the memory hole.

Liberal white hypocrisy is a given. But, the techniques liberal whites (Oak Park voted for Obama 83-16) use to get what they want are well worth study by the less privileged.
—————-

Cases in point: my parents in a neighborhood of gangs, drugs, and so forth. Republicans. My sister earning meager income and in a mobile home, ver conservative. DODD engineers and computer scientists: gun-toting non-Democrats.

Comment by AmazingRuss

2013-01-20 11:50:08

Now you’re throwing out anecdotes to support what you made up.

Comment by nickpapageorgio

2013-01-20 13:35:38

Do you have any proof to the contrary?

Comment by alpha-sloth

2013-01-20 15:04:30

Yep, stupid people who live off the government, are often, ironically, very conservative and anti-government.

I think it’s the sign of a guilty conscience. And the inability to be truthful with oneself.

Kind of like how the loudest anti-homosexual types always end up getting caught toe-tapping in the men’s room.

Comment by Bill in Los Angeles

2013-01-20 19:28:52

Alpha’s being an emotional beech as usual.

Comment by Bill in Los Angeles

2013-01-20 19:35:05

Hey retardo Alpha. Over 55% of Americans are the recipients of some government check…ie. taxpayer money. That means over 1 out of 2 people here on Ben’s Blog get some sort of government check either directly or indirectly. Probably yourself.

Are you going to collect social security when you retire? If so, welcome to the taxpayer recipients. Look in the mirror. First of all, you are ugly -goes without saying. Second, you are talking about yourself when you are saying government checks.

Most essential services require that SOME BASTARD BY GOLLY GETS PAID? READ THE CONSTITUTION YOU A$$ WIPE. DEFENSE. HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE PROVIDED IF IT’S FRIGGING FREE.

RETARDED ALPHA. GO AWAY.

Comment by Pimp Watch

2013-01-20 20:02:04

Yeah…. but Alpo is our retard. It’s fun to watch him lick the windows.

Yes, it’s a silly argument. A libertarian can’t do contract work for the government. So a big government proponent can’t work in the private sector? Pretty soon we’re like the Planet of the Apes. Gorillas are the military, orangutangs are scholars and chimps are admin.

It’s not so much the white issue (though that is part of it) as the rich issue. Obama wants government run health care for everyone but won’t even allow government unionized teachers to teach reading and writing to his daughters. They go to private school. When I posted this a couple of weeks ago WOW! All the Obama defenders came to his rescue defending him.
True Sidwell Friends is a pretty campus and wooded and easier for security but a public school is not some impossible challenge.
POLLY said she “could not imagine” how the Secret Service would deliver the kids. Her imagination must be pretty limited. Easy many schools have multiple entrances. Additionally you temporarily for 3 - 5 minutes close the street if necessary. Happens all the time for VIPs for security. POLLY also said the Obamas wanted to be “polite” not making other kids and staff put up with security. Many public high schools across the country require the students to go through metal detectors. You think the Sidwell Friends students and staff don’t deal with security? The Obamas are not worried about inconveniencing people. Think of the chaos they cause whenever they go anywhere. I was stuck in traffic for an hour and a half one quiet weekend afternoon. It was strange for the time and location. Obama had gone to Ben’s Chilli Bowl. (a famous DC dive) for lunch. Believe they’re not concerned about this. Don’t mean that critically. It is just the nature of being POTUS and family. No matter where they go it creates a hassle. And there were other comments from POLLY and others about kidnappings, Sidwell Friends, this that and the other thing. I call bollocks on all it.

If they sent their kids to DC public school because of the scrutiny the kids would get a fine education. More importantly the other students probably predominately black and poor would also get a fine education that they probably would not get otherwise. Doing this would be leadership. The Obama girls might even benefit from interacting with children different from themselves.

But the Obamas don’t won’t their kids going to school with poor black kids. EEEWWWWW!

And you know the left’s talking points. “We ‘re all in this together”, “there are two Americas” “diversity” etc… But when it comes time for action limousine liberals’ view is that all animals are equal but some are more equal.

I used to work on a street that was closed often for motorcades. There is no such thing as closing a street for 3 to 5 minutes. Never happens. Half hour is the least amount of time it takes. An hour is more likely. Co-workers who drove to work couldn’t get out of the building to get to the parking garage to pick up their vehicles in the most extreme cases. Those of us going to the metro could get out by walking 3 to 4 blocks out of our way through the back door.

In addition, DC public schools are in neighborhoods where you would have to evacuate dozens if not hundreds of windows (in addition to closing the street) to protect kids entering and exiting the building on a particular schedule. The fact that they would be using one of 4 or 5 outside doors each morning is irrelevant, except that it means you would have to shut down all traffic on every street that had a possible exit on it every single morning or communicate which door the kids would be using.

As I said in the previous discussion, I have been to Sidwell several times and used their parking lot and the back staircase. It is ideal for a secure entrance to the school buildings from a vehicle.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

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Comment by ecofeco

2013-01-20 12:18:15

“You have no idea what you are talking about.”

He never lets facts get in his way!

Comment by tresho

2013-01-20 12:22:35

You have no idea what you are talking about.
Yup. No mention of where previous POTUS & VP children have been schooled in the DC area going back 50 or 60 years. I haven’t checked, but it is a safe bet ZERO% have attended a DC public school.
If that’s true, this is a NON-issue.
The underlying tragedy is that DC schools and all DC public services are the direct responsibility of the US Congress, which continues to be shamefully negligent.

Comment by nickpapageorgio

2013-01-20 13:38:37

Domo arigato, Mrs. Gboto

Comment by Prime_Is_Contained

2013-01-20 13:48:00

From what I understand, Amy Carter attended public schools in Washington, DC, including Stevens Elementary School and Hardy Middle School.

That’s not so long ago.

Security hasn’t changed that much, has it?

Comment by polly

2013-01-20 14:49:29

Amy Carter wasn’t even allowed to go outside for recess when she attended DC public schools because of security issues. And DC traffic has gotten a lot worse since the 70’s.

Comment by Prime_Is_Contained

2013-01-20 15:10:43

Not being allowed to go outside for recess seems like a small burden to bear.

And it doesn’t change the fact that she went to public schools—clearly it was considered feasible from a security POV.

Comment by alpha-sloth

2013-01-20 15:26:18

Security hasn’t changed that much, has it?

I would say it’s changed greatly.

Obama could send his daughters to a public school, but it would be probably cost a lot more, and be a lot more trouble for everyone involved, than just sending them to a private school.

It’s a ridiculous thing to get upset about. It’s indicative of nothing, except how good the talking point creators are at exciting some people.

How’s this: Why don’t Presidents ride the bus everywhere? Why are they so special that they get a limo?

And do they really need the White House? How about an apartment where you have to buzz people in? That’s pretty secure.

Comment by tresho

2013-01-20 16:21:43

It’s indicative of nothing, except how good the talking point creators are at exciting some people.
Also indicates how willing people are to distract themselves from constructive activities they could have taken up instead.

Comment by In Purgatory

2013-01-20 16:36:45

Obama could send his daughters to a public school, but it would be probably cost a lot more

You can try to spin all you want and I don’t blame Obama for sending his kids to best public or private schools available.
The Obamas sent their kids to private schools in chicago, too while advocating for public schools for all of us.

I know what I am talking about. I have seen street closures for 3 - 5 minutes for several blocks both in DC and NY for all kind of VIPs. Schools have multiple entrances. Do you really think hundreds of window are evacuated for high security individuals’ arrivals and departures? Secret Service agents create a shield with their bodies, etc… Sidwell is better yes, but a public school is not out the question. “The one” does not want his kids taught by unionized government teachers and going to school with poor black kids.

It’s not so much the white issue (though that is part of it) as the rich issue. Obama wants government run health care for everyone but won’t even allow government unionized teachers to teach reading and writing to his daughters. They go to private school. When I posted this a couple of weeks ago WOW! All the Obama defenders came to his rescue defending him.
True Sidwell Friends is a pretty campus and wooded and easier for security but a public school is not some impossible challenge.
Polly said she “could not imagine” how the Secret Service would deliver the kids. Her imagination must be pretty limited. Easy many schools have multiple entrances. Additionally you temporarily for 3 - 5 minutes close the street if necessary. Happens all the time for VIPs for security. Polly also said the Obamas wanted to be “polite” not making other kids and staff put up with security. Many public high schools across the country require the students to go through metal detectors. You think the Sidwell Friends students and staff don’t deal with security? The Obamas are not worried about inconveniencing people. Think of the chaos they cause whenever they go anywhere. I was stuck in traffic for an hour and a half one quiet weekend afternoon. It was strange for the time and location. Obama had gone to Ben’s Chilli Bowl. (a famous DC dive) for lunch. Believe they’re not concerned about this. Don’t mean that critically. It is just the nature of being POTUS and family. No matter where they go it creates a hassle. And there were other comments from POLLY and others about kidnappings, this that and the other thing. I call bollocks on all it.

If they sent their kids to DC public school because of the scrutiny the kids would get a fine education. More importantly the other students probably predominately black and poor would also get a fine education that they might not get otherwise. Doing this would be leadership. The Obama girls might even benefit from interacting with children different from themselves.

But the Obamas don’t won’t their kids going to school with poor black kids. EEEWWWWW!

And you know the left’s talking points. “We ‘re all in this together”, “there are two Americas” “diversity” etc… But when it comes time for action limousine liberals’ view is that all animals are equal but some are more equal.

P.S. He’s against school vouchers. All animals are equal but some are more equal.

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Comment by Happy2bHeard

2013-01-20 14:15:02

How will vouchers fix the problem of inequality? A lot of large urban public school systems already have systems in place to identify the more capable students and offer opportunities to them, like magnet schools and pull-out enriched programs.

Those rules make it seem like this is tough. It’s not. There are 5 supermarkets within a mile of me. All of them meet these rules (Santoni’s is on Lombard Street, but all the others are south of Eastern, in neighborhoods that range from 50% white to 90%+ white).

Similarly, all the good restaurants, parks, and other recreation in the area meets these rules. In most cases you’re 6-8 blocks from majority-minority areas but you would never know it, it feels like you could be in Bel Air, MD or something. Especially true when you’re near the water.

I was doing a job search across the country a while back and also trying to use some of the time to look around at housing. I would use whether a Teavana, Chipotle or Paradise Bakery was close by as kind of short cut real rough rule of thumb to try to figure out areas I’d be interested in. (It seemed to work pretty good)

Anybody else got such a shortcut?

Oh my god I’ve given away my demographic!

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Comment by Anon In DC

2013-01-20 10:21:39

In addition to looking at the number of markets go in them to see what they’re selling. Really basic stuff or expensive luxury items. This very obvious but a large number banks is a good indicator of upscale / safe. As is wine store vs. liquor.

Or are you trying to access hipness (or a particular sensibility) vs. safety?

Comment by Ol'Bubba

2013-01-20 10:46:15

It’s usually a good idea to avoid neighborhoods where you find used tire stores.

Comment by rms

2013-01-20 10:58:35

“It’s usually a good idea to avoid neighborhoods where you find used tire stores.”

+1 And laundromats.

Comment by ecofeco

2013-01-20 12:21:53

…and payday loan, chech cashing places.

Comment by tresho

2013-01-20 12:26:01

In 1977 I worked for a week in Pine Ridge SD. At the time there was no bank in town, although there had been in previous decades. There seemed to be a large enough local population to justify a bank. I observed this & asked some of the locals how it came to pass that the town had no bank. I was told, “The banks were always getting robbed, so they went out of business.”

Comment by tresho

2013-01-20 12:31:55

Another great Pine Ridge story:
A physician who worked at the Indian Health Service hospital in town had been rude to some of the patients & was run off the reservation one evening by an Indian holding a rifle. He called the hospital director the next day from several hundred miles away & said he would not be returning. I was told this by a different physician at the same facility. Most of the non-physician staff at this facility were related to the patients one way or another. This may explain the line in “Home on the Range” — “seldom is heard a discouraging word”
Of course this did not make the news. Many of the scenes of the movie “Thunder Heart” accurately represented conditions at Pine Ridge as I saw them in 1977.

Areas that have no grocery stores generally are pretty bad. There are a lot of areas of Baltimore, Philly, DC, etc that have basically no grocery stores for a mile in any direction.

Comment by nickpapageorgio

2013-01-20 13:51:06

I live in a mixed area. I am surrounded by box wine drinking, trail mix toting, tofu eating, pot smoking and self loathing statist progressives. There are a few others like me protecting the walls but we lost a little ground this year when, by a slim margin, this district elected a real live communist to congress.

Oh yeah…there are blacks, hispanics, asians, indians and other races living here as well. I have to suspect that a good number of the non-whites voted for the communist. For now, they seem to be comfortable trading free sh.t for their liberty. Although I don’t think they are too happy about the 2% increase in the payroll tax, that issue stings and will open a few eyes.

Joe, I have a confession to make. When I lived in San Marcos, Texas, I lived next door to a Mexican. He spoke Spanish and everything. And he owned a chicken. And later I found out he owned hand tools!

When I lived in deep south Texas, there was a llante usadas store nearby. How embarrassing.

Once when I lived in Austin Texas, I had a room mate who was a black man! And sometimes, we even ate together, at the same table!

Anyway, please don’t let my confession get around, I would just die if Mumsie found out.

Comment by Happy2bHeard

2013-01-20 15:35:05

I was surprised when we moved to White Plains, NY to find that the shopping carts at the grocery store could not be taken into the parking lot. That was several decades ago. I don’t know if it is still true. The stores would also run out of Halloween candy and other holiday merchandise before the holiday. No buying the leftovers at 50% off after the holiday.

It is the only part of the country that I have seen either of these.

Comment by aNYCdj

2013-01-20 18:17:51

Happy now they all have wheel locks (RFID tags in the wheels) that prevent you from leaving the lot.

Wow…you gotta get out of Montana once in a while…and I say that with love as a Wyoming boy :-).

Comment by aNYCdj

2013-01-21 22:37:37

I guess we have to explain homeless people need them for bottle recycling…or to steal stuff…some may sleep in them….they can be good weapons,

People used to push them in front of moving cars then fall and fake injuries…

Lots of reason to take them off the lot and the shoppers pay with increased prices.

Comment by tresho

2013-01-22 13:12:44

they can be good weapons,
Not only that, but crazy/reckless drivers careening through parking lots are less likely to hit pedestrians pushing shopping carts, don’t want that much damage to their front ends, y’see.

a) yes, the gentrification issue was quite scary to whites in the 60s. (shock!)

b) I’m going to go out on a limb and say it still is in most of Chicagoland.

c) Oak Park is currently 22% black. I’m guessing here, but it’s about 8 square miles in size. It’s not like you can hide from scary black people there. If you choose to live in Oak Park (and by the way, pay a gob in property taxes), you’ve chosen to live in a more integrated community. Somehow, the place survives.

d) The neighborhood of Chicago to the east of Oak Park is Austin. Gang central. Probably safer to grow up in Pakistan than in Austin.

This is Steve W signing off, your near west Chicago suburb correspondent for the HBB.

What was everybody out doing?
Fine weather here in NE OH, T 53 and bright sunshine. Worked all day in the back yard attempting to save the life of my 2001 F150, doing major body work. Much noise, showers of red hot metal and general pandemonium, great fun had by all.
Now I need to rest up for a few days, and temps are back to normal for us.

I was working on a problem set. I’m still working on the ffing problem set. After I have that done I need to rework a position paper in which I allegedly committed logical errors.

I believe it may have been because of my intimation about the grader’s pet position. To wit, it sounded like a committee construct slapped together during an orgy of self-congratulation whilst engaged in a circle jerk. Sort of like other static models that have been formulated in a vacuum. I gave examples of similarly precious constructs that have since been discredited.

I find nothing wrong with my logic, and my position statement was appropriately bloodless.

It appears I shall be paying for my incorrect thinking for the remainder of the semester.

Friday, January 18, 2013
A Question For Our President
Hey, Mr. President! Why aren’t you going after THEIR guns? You know, the ones shooting up NYC, Chicago, LA, DC and most other medium to large American cities. Do something about their ILLEGAL firearms, then you can talk about the legal ones. Dumbass! And yeah, some of us have bled for this country, so we have the right to judge.

Here are some of the photos of thugs with their guns we have posted over the past year. And the idiot in the White House says your AR-15 and our thirteen round Model 21’s are the problem.

“I am a bit drained,” Leonardo DiCaprio told German publication Bild. “I’m now going to take a long, long break. I’ve done three films in two years and I’m just worn out.”

But rather than spending his break relaxing, DiCaprio says that he will take the time to focus on the environment. “I would like to improve the world a bit,” he said. “I will fly around the world doing good for the environment.”

But rather than spending his break relaxing, DiCaprio says that he will take the time to focus on the environment. “I would like to improve the world a bit,” he said. “I will fly around the world doing good for the environment.”

I wonder if DiCraprio will be paying for the carbon footprints of jet exhaust when he flies around the world. If those GW types want to get any respect, they better not have any children, but adopt instead. Bringing more kids in the world means more landfills will get more trash, more carbon into our air, and so on.

It has been a long time since I have posted. Mainly because I was called a bitch or a plant daily for encouraging ppl to invest in the stock market through low cost ETFs from the period from the botton to 1200 on the S&P, and I felt that the bottom in housing was 12 months ago. Well we all see how that turned out. I came back to check the chatter because I feel ppl have learned nothing and the bubble is back, and wanted to tell everyone I am starting to pull money off the table after a 68% run up. The biggest wild card is inflation. I miss you PBear, and hope you did well at least listening to what I had to say.

Natalie, good to pull money off the table. I did so in 2012. I am nearing my exit off the grid and into the culture of voluntaryism and civil disobedience (when Bammy orders my gold and guns and ammo confiscated).

Congratulations Bill. I have fond memories of you too. I am also at the point where I can leave the work force if necessary. I’m not into the guns as much, and will probably focus on art, travel and gardening.

Natalie, I’d love to hear your perspective on this in the future. Personally, when I started to have a base of financial independence, I actually found that I felt much less of a need to escape from work, and I actually started enjoying it more. I think that there is something in the knowledge of freedom that changes your perspective, and you actually enjoy whatever your do more when it is your choice to do it. Just my perspective; I would be curious to hear what your experience is.

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Comment by Combotechie

2013-01-20 12:21:48

“Personally, when I started to have a base of financial independence, I actually found that I felt much less of a need to escape from work, and actually started enjoying it more. I think there is something in the knowledge of freedom that changes your perspective, and you actually enjoy whatever you do more when it is your choice to do it.”

Right on! This is where I’m at.

The company I work for has adopted and is driven by the concept of Six Sigma and now, because I am financially free, I get to laugh a lot at work whereas I would otherwise be worried.

I could retire but if I did I would miss out on all the fun.

Six Sigma and Ben Jones’ blog = A good laugh each and every day.

Comment by Bill in Los Angeles

2013-01-20 13:44:49

“Retiring” means living the life you want, knowi g you do not really have to work. But you might work. For me (I am typing this in an airport at this moment) it will mean I don’t travel for work and I will have dogs, be social with masters swimming events and mountain bike groups, belong to gun clubs and be active, and be part of the voluntaryist scene. Above all I will not have to stay quiet about my atheism and voluntaryism where I work.

“I think there is something in the knowledge of freedom that changes your perspective, and you actually enjoy whatever you do more when it is your choice to do it.”

Spot on. It’s harder for others in the workplace to threaten you if you know you could walk away from your position tomorrow and have enough savings in the bank to carry you through until you find another opportunity.

Comment by Montana

2013-01-21 11:11:01

and is driven by the concept of Six Sigma

Is it funnier than TQM?

Comment by Carl Morris

2013-01-21 13:56:32

TQM + More Statistics = Six Sigma. But I have a soft spot for TQM because of Deming being from my home town and nobody there even knowing who he is while meanwhile they build more statues of Buffalo Bill.

Natalie, good to see you back; I hope that you’ll return more often, and just ignore the nay-sayers/attackers.

I wasn’t sure I disagreed with your forecast—I just made different choices, mostly still sitting out the markets. My reason isn’t that I don’t think they will be inflated; for me, it is more that I have not quite come to peace with investing in a market that seems so manipulated. Yes, it was fairly predictable that the Fed’s intervention and pumping would inflate financials. But I personally believe that an artificially pumped-up market is a fragile, brittle one—a casino essentially. I prefer to invest in a market where the fundamentals actually hold sway.

And by way, I made over $1,500 last week by doing nothing but having some of my assets allocated to a REIT.

Anyone who is investing long-term in REITs should be thinking hard about how ZIRP affects the decision to build apartment buildings, and how many seem to be going up on the heels of the largest building-binge in history, and what those effects may mean long-term both in terms of asking rents, as well as for resale price of buildings being built right now…

One of the reason’s I own no apartment REITs. In addition to the Fed’s ZIRP, interest rates for apartment loans are subsidized by the US government via Fannie/Freddie, making rates lower for apartments as compared to other product types. This has definitely encouraged a lot of apartment construction, but moreover, has pushed apartment cap rates down to crazy levels.

My primary exposure in REITs (98%+) is to industrial (distribution/warehouse and some manufacturing) and basic needs retail (discount and grocery). ZIRP has done little to push lots of additional development of these product types, while at the same time allowing these REITs to refinance lots of their debt into lower, longer-dated maturities. Also, these product types seem to me to be least affected by the internet-ization of commerce.

Glad to see you posting again, Natalie. Don’t take these avitars TOO seriously; if they’d listened to your good counsel a year ago, they’d have better things to do with their time now than writing nasty commentary about your considered analyses.

On Dec. 14, Romero accepted a plea offer from the State Attorney’s Office for a year of probation and a $200 fine, avoiding jail at the time. He pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a miniature donkey named Doodle.

Since then, Romero says he has been living in the woods or his pickup truck and eating food from Dumpsters. He says he didn’t know he had a warrant for his arrest and thinks the charges are bogus.

‘He pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a miniature donkey named Doodle’

What happened to withholding the name of the victim? And as they capitalized Dumpsters, I assume that’s a fast food chain. “I’ll have a half eaten burger, one third of a shake and two of those tater tots on the floor.”

Just killing time, waiting on it to get warm enough to finish work on a foreclosure here in town. Yesterday I re-winterized it. (Many lenders winterize again when the house goes to market, no matter when it was previously winterized). It had originally been done on 12/23/12.

It was about 80% frozen, with pipe damage likely. The water heater was frozen solid. When I first started doing this in 2008, we would run around winterizing anything vacant, even pre-foreclosures, in October. Now they don’t seem to care about things like this. This house is probably going on the market for around $250k; it’s a nice 3/2 with lots of extra room. So for lack of paying attention to the weather, or bothering to check if it was occupied, this corporation will probably have to pay 5 or 10 grand to tear out walls, fix the pipes, or knock that much off the asking price.

I grew up in the rural South amongst a bunch of conservative white-folk, hunters, fishermen and farmers - I never heard of anyone ever having or wanting an assault rifle. It is all about the NRA and FOX ginning up the issue for profit. As most people with a brain know: It is always about the money. All of these people lining up at these gun shows are not there to support the Second Amendment, they are there to load up so they can re-sale for a profit later.

All of these people lining up at these gun shows are not there to support the Second Amendment, they are there to load up so they can re-sale for a profit later.

To who?

I grew up out in the country in the 70s and nobody wanted assault rifles then because AKs weren’t accurate enough and ARs didn’t shoot a caliber suitable for big game hunting. A few people had Garands but those weren’t considered assault rifles.

But things have changed since then. IMO the people lining up are mostly people who want them for themselves or their kids and don’t think they’ll ever have another chance.

Which liberties are okay to keep in your opinion cracker? I want to know so I can update the authorities. We can’t have people making their own decisions, especially decisions that you don’t agree with.

Not sure if you’ve been reading the site in the last week, but I am willing to provide “GUN FREE HOME” yard signs, just let me know where to send them.

“We can’t have people making their own decisions, especially decisions that you don’t agree with.”

So I should be free to own a bazooka or an A-Bomb. Just try to take my A-Bomb from my cold dead hands.

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Comment by nickpapageorgio

2013-01-20 16:21:54

The 90’s called and they want their ridiculous argument back. My “GUN FREE HOME” yard signs are going fast.

Comment by nickpapageorgio

2013-01-20 16:30:29

On a more serious note. You seem angry about these people lining up at gun shows. These people are just hard working Americans concerned about their rights. They are not your enemy, they are your neighbors. You should be thanking them for getting off their ass and making a statement.

Here’s a fun fact for this weekend’s dinner party: Al Gore is likely now worth more than Mitt Romney.

The former Vice President sold his Current TV network to Al Jazeera for a reported $500 million last week, a move that will make him worth at least $300 million, according to an estimation by Forbes. That’s more than Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is worth about $250 million, according to a September estimate from Bloomberg.

If the Forbes guess proves true, it would likely come as a surprise to many. Since losing the controversial 2000 election to George W. Bush, Gore has probably become best known for his environmental activism, not his money (he left office with somewhere between $780,000 and $1.9 million to his name, according to MarketWatch). But he’s quietly made other moves to increase his wealth all the while — like launching Current TV, joining Apple’s board of directors and starting an investment management firm.

I guess they will be the only ones permitted to make a profit going forward. The main stream media will never expose these hypocrites and turn the occupy movement against them. Nope, even the most narcissistic and sociopathic progressive statists get a pass.

Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars (39) from Universe Architecture in Amsterdam designed a one-piece building which will be built on a 3D printer. He hopes the so-called Landscape House can be printed out latest in year 2014.

It is, however, great for modeling structures or for quickly making small items that are satisfactory, given the materials 3D printers produce. “This Old House” demonstrated the duplication of an adjustable wrench from a working version. The duplicate version worked the same way & didn’t even require assembly. The duplicate was not metal, although the original was.

Well Brother Jethro…. your Pats got gypsied again. I don’t know how the flip they only scored 13 points in an entire game. WTF???? I just don’t get it. Nobody puts together a drive like Brady & Co. Nobody. Oh well…..There’s going to be alot of sour pusses at work in RI tomorrow.

Children say couple in Tequesta fatal shooting ‘got to the end of their rope’

By Eliot Kleinberg

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

TEQUESTA —
In the end, the retired commercial pilot who still carried his Air Force weight had been reduced to using a walker. The love of his life had begun a journey down the dark path of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The twin pianos in their Palm City home stood silent.

The couple’s son says they just plain ran out of hope.

So on Friday, police and family members have said, Roy Boldt, 81, came to the Clare Bridge of Tequesta assisted-living complex and shot Virginia, 75, then himself.

Tequesta police have yet to release the Boldts’ identities, and a spokesman for the department did not return calls Sunday.

“My father had an individual threshold for which he could see beyond pain and incapacity, and had reached his threshold,” his daughter, Lori Boldt Drucker of Jupiter Farms, said Sunday evening. “He would not have left her behind without taking a journey home with her. He would not leave Ginny alone.”

Their son, Jacksonville dentist Paul Boldt, said: “My parents were wonderful people, and gravely ill, and got to the end of their rope.”

Lori Drucker remembers her parents’ “greatest joy”: the days sailing off the south shore of Long Island, near the family’s Massapequa, N.Y., home. Her father was “an avid sailor. My mother was his ‘jib man.’ And we were the ballast, my brother and I.”

Roy and Virginia Boldt had met in New York’s Queens borough when he was 12 and she was 5. They were married 56 years and had two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Roy “loved flying and still dreamed about flying. He loved every day of going to work,” his daughter said. She said he retired at 55 from U.S. Airways in 1979. Virginia, a lifelong homemaker, was a member of the high-IQ society Mensa.

“My parents were very private people,” Lori Drucker said. Starting in the mid-1980s, she said, the couple lived full time in a large home in Palm City, where “they really enjoyed taking care of their 2 acres.” Both were talented pianists and often practiced together.

Then Roy spent more than three months in rehabilitation at Jupiter Medical Center, suffering maladies that included prostate cancer.

“This very independent man, who walked 2 miles a day, 6-foot-2, (and) kept his Air Force weight at 167 pounds his entire life, was in great pain,” Lori Drucker said. “I was amazed with the amount of personal strength he had.”

Drucker, a geriatric nurse practitioner who specializes in dementia and Alzheimer’s, said her mother had only in recent years confided that she’d begun to have symptoms in her mid-50s. Even at the end, Drucker said, her mother comprehended much but could not speak.

Just days before their deaths, Roy checked out of the medical center. With his wife institutionalized, he’d moved out of the couple’s home two years ago to a smaller one in the gated Monarch Country Club in the Martin Downs area.

Lori Drucker had told Tequesta police Friday that her father had been in good spirits when she spoke to him recently and gave no indication of what was to come.

But police said Roy came to Clare Bridge on Friday for one of his frequent visits, walking past the staff who knew him well. This time, he brought a handgun.

Earlier Friday, a friend had contacted police to say Roy was acting strangely. Police came to Clare Bridge, went to the nurse’s station and asked for Virginia. A nurse went in the room.

“Apparently the shots were not heard, because there was music” playing, Lori Drucker said.

The couple will be cremated. Aycock Funeral Home in Stuart is handling arrangements. Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Community Care, 800 Northpoint Parkway, No. 101, West Palm Beach, FL 33407.

Lori Drucker said Sunday she was especially shaken by the effects on the patients and staff of Clare Bridge. The morning after, she said, she sent two bouquets — one for each group.

“These families already have been so stressed,” she said. “I want to say how terribly sorry we are for any trauma they would have experienced.”

WASHINGTON — Backing down from their hard-line stance, House Republicans said Friday that they would agree to lift the federal government’s statutory borrowing limit for three months, with a requirement that both chambers of Congress pass a budget in that time to clear the way for negotiations on long-term deficit reduction.

The new proposal, which came out of closed-door party negotiations at a retreat in Williamsburg, Va., seemed to significantly reduce the threat of a default by the federal government in coming weeks. The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said he was encouraged by the offer; Senate Democrats, while bristling at the demand for a budget, were also reassured and viewed it as a de-escalation of the debt fight.

The change in tack represented a retreat for House Republicans, who were increasingly isolated in their refusal to lift the debt ceiling. Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio had previously said he would raise it only if it were paired with immediate spending cuts of equivalent value. The new strategy is designed to start a more orderly negotiation with President Obama and Senate Democrats on ways to shrink the trillion-dollar deficit.

To add muscle to their efforts to bring Senate Democrats to the table, House Republicans will include a provision in the debt ceiling legislation that says lawmakers will not be paid if they do not pass a budget blueprint, though questions have been raised whether that provision is constitutional.
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